Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 Patch 1.2.3 Is a Big One, Nerfs Maelle's Game-Breaking Stendahl Build

Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 developer Sandfall Interactive has released Patch 1.2.3 for its well-received role-playing game across all platforms.

The update makes a long list of fixes and, crucially, balance changes, including nerfing Clair Obscur’s most game-breaking build (patch notes below).

Sandfall had signalled this change was coming, saying it hadn’t planned to make any balance tweaks this early — just bug fixes, “unless something clearly stood out.”

“Well, Stendhal did,” the developer continued.

The build in question is (was!) for young fencer Maelle and a sword called Medalum, which unlocks a Virtuose Stance that deals 200% bonus damage. Players were combining this with ability-stacking and the Stendahl skill, which deals extreme single target Void damage, to dish out billions of damage, enough to kill the final boss in just one hit.

“It was underwhelming for most of development, so in our final pre-release balance pass, we gave it a big damage boost — and clearly overdid it. It ended up overshadowing most other options,” Sandfall said.

“We still want you to be able to break the game — and you absolutely still can — but Stendhal was making it a bit too easy.”

The nerf is included in Clair Obscur: Expedition 33’s first full hotfix set. While Stendhal is still a strong single-hit skill with great synergy potential, it’s now more in-line with everything else.

Meanwhile, the patch fixes what sounds like a bug that was making Medalum third Lumina doubling all damage in Virtuose Stance, instead of doubling only Burn damage.

Here's the relevant points from today's patch notes:

• Fixed Medalum third Lumina doubling all damage in Virtuose Stance instead of doubling only Burn damage.
• Stendhal: Reduced damage by 40%.

Clair Obscur is a breakout hit for Sandfall, and has already sold over 2 million copies. It’s worth remembering that Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 was, alongside Bethesda’s Oblivion Remastered, a day-one Game Pass title. That makes this sales milestone all the more impressive.

When Bethesda shadow-dropped The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Remastered amid the launch of fellow role-playing game Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, most thought there could be only one winner. However, it turned out that there was plenty of room for both games to succeed.

Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 has done so well that French President Macron has praised the development team. Be sure to check out our tips for the important things to know before heading into the game.

Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 update 1.2.3 patch notes:

Steam Deck

• Fixed backgrounds of various menus not displaying properly on the Steam Deck

Various Ultrawide Fixes

• Gameplay no longer becomes zoomed after a cutscene occurs in ultrawide resolutions
• The Options menu image will no longer be stretched in ultrawide resolutions
• Combat UI now adapts correctly to ultrawide resolutions
• Game will no longer minimize upon changing settings in ultrawide resolution
• Cutscenes won’t letterbox in 32:9 aspect ratio
• Title screen now displays fullscreen when the game is launched in ultrawide resolution

Mouse and Keyboard

• UI button prompts in Expedition Menu are now visible and fully able to be triggered with Keyboard
• Mouse buttons do not become unresponsive after first use
• With mouse cursor on screen, using 'WSAD' or directional arrows to navigate in UI or trigger any other functionality will no longer hide the cursor instead of doing the intended action
• Left Mouse-button click will no longer block the player from using Keyboard to navigate menus
• Mouse input is not lost after the first Jump counter attack if it is pressed only once

Fixed areas of the world map where you can get stuck:

• Between lanterns scattered on the ground near Stone Wave Cliff portal
• While walking on the ship wreck near the Forgotten Battlefield level entrance
• Between lanterns on the ground near Bourgeon encounter next to Stone Wave Cliffs level
• Between two small rocks located between Spring Meadows and Abbest Cave
• Between vases and corals when jumping from rooftopps
• Between various rocks
• In ruins behind Flying Manor level entrance
• Near the bridge between Flying Waters and Spring Meadows
• In the rocks on the World Map, near Flying Waters
• Next to hardened land, close to the Flying Waters location exit

Fixed situations where Esquie specifically would get stuck (poor guy):

• When taking off from paint bridges, making him fall through the bridge and restrict movement
• When flying into bottom parts of levitating structures near Visages
• Near the Flying Waters entrance level
• Near a giant hammer when traversing close to Blades' Graveyard level

Weapon and skill fixes and tuning:

• Fixed Lithelim attribute scaling not working at high level. Reduced initial Vitality scaling from A to C (will still end at S at max level). Added Luck scaling starting at D.
• Fixed Blizzon attribute scaling not working at high level. Reduced initial Luck scaling from B to C (will still end at S at max level). Added Defense scaling starting at D.
• Fixed Medalum third Lumina doubling all damage in Virtuose Stance instead of doubling only Burn damage.
• Stendhal: Reduced damage by 40%.

Other fixes

• Boss encounter in Stone Wave Cliffs can now be finished on NG+
• You will no longer be blocked by the Journal UI window after opening the first Journal in the Spring Meadows
• Fixed being unable to shoot in Free aim while exploring levels due to worn triggers
• Lune and Monoco no longer spawn in same place during end of theirs Level 6 relationship quests if they are completed without going to camp
• If at camp you pick “remember the objective”, then quickly choose to "go to sleep" and immediately after press "leave", the screen no longer goes black
• You can no longer trigger the "Discovering the truth" cutscene in Old Lumière a second time in a row, splitting the party forever with only Verso and Maelle in it.
• Update to rolling credits

Wesley is the UK News Editor for IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.